


Circus at the End of the World

by iimpavid



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, circus AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 06:44:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12625422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iimpavid/pseuds/iimpavid
Summary: “Sit yourselves down—”“—prepare your immortal soul for a night of thrills, chills—”“—and death defying feats not noted in your handbills!”





	Circus at the End of the World

The McCoy twins were unrivaled ringmasters. In matching top hats, tails, and spats they called seamlessly into the night, their skeletal faces cast in deep shadow by floating faerie lights and torches.

 

“Ladies, gentlemen—”

 

“Boys and girls—”

 

Tumblers and mummers and freaks milled about the circus grounds but there was more, always more, to be seen under the big top. The towering tend with its stadium seating and candy stripes all but enveloped the clearing in the woods.

 

Together they finished their invitation, “—and all variations thereof! Step right up!” and diverged again,

 

“Sit yourselves down—”

 

“—prepare your immortal soul for a night of thrills, chills—”

 

“—and death defying feats not noted in your handbills!”

 

An exaggerated wink from a death’s head is small comfort to newcomers and it only serves to make the ringmaster— which twin was it again? The taller, Leonard McCoy— grin all the fiercer from the stacked apple crates that served as a platform from which to beckon the masses. His sister, Sarah, ushers them past with a flourish.

 

“A palpitating pageant of pachyderms, pulchritude and pantomime!”

 

“Dangerous displays of unrivaled aerialism!”

 

“Conniving chimerical comics!”

 

“Dainty and dexterous demonstrations of principal bareback equitation!”

 

The audience was greeted by the chandeliers floated within the big top, high above even the high wire, candles in them flickering and alive. They gaped up at the extravagance like turkeys in the rain.

 

“Newcomers, be advised, this is no show for the faint of heart! So shield your children—”

 

“—gird your loins—

 

“—and allow us to be the first to welcome you to The Living Bazaar!”

__

A wailing drifts through the open, unscreened windows of a train car-turned-residence, drowning out the chirruping frogs and night insects. Jim’s hydra is throwing another tantrum— what about Leonard can’t begin to guess. It probably knocked against one of its own heads, frightened itself with its own luminescence.

 

Leonard stands before the too-low mirror in his excuse for a bathroom and does his best to wipe off the skull’s face overlaying his own. Pancake makeup will melt off ten feet away from a fire breather but trying to wash it off takes a disturbing amount of baby oil and a towel that has seen better days.  The last thing he needs is to stain the tile of his too-narrow shower with black greasepaint.

 

The Bazaar was a hit. Here in the sticky, simmering Southern states they don’t see enough spectacle, he supposes, enough excitement in the dead of the night. But then that’s what circuses are for— to allow the mundane to approach the fantastical not fearlessly but with the illusion of control.

 

The hydra wails again, a chorus this time, in tones closely approaching euphonic quiet.

 

“Good job Jim,” Leonard murmurs. It won’t do to have their permit revoked on a noise complaint or to get arrested when the county sheriff finds the menagerie of unlicensed beasts they keep.

 

Free of the death’s head paint he strips, showers, listens to the sunrise content in the knowledge that come the afternoon they’ll do it all again.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I gave Bones a twin sister. Rules and canon are for squares.
> 
> [Tumblr.](https://papermoon-cardboardsea.tumblr.com/) [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/iimpavid)


End file.
